paper issues | blog hop

The Paper Issues Design Team gals have lined up a terrific blog hop for you with three different categories, so you're bound to find at least one category that's right up your alley. And if you're someone like me who loves it all, you're going to be busy this weekend!

You should have arrived here from the blog of the amazing Holly Humbert where she's sharing a super cool project, but I recommend starting at Paper Issues so you don't miss a single blog. Your next stop will be the fabulous Jennie McGarvey. And just a HINT...some of our designers have giveaways on their blogs, so be sure to hop along all the way to the end! As an added bonus, Miss Cassie has extended a special 25% off coupon code to the Paper Issues shop. At checkout, just use the code HOP25 effective through Sunday.

Now, on to my TREE HUGGER project. If you're a regular reader of I Love It All, you already know that we live in the mountains and have lots of trees {duh} in our immediate view....so, you know, we love our trees!

I added a line of sewing around the cover of my Fall mini with my Mom's trusty oooooold Singer sewing machine and added a folded over punched bracket shape for the year holder.

Detail of the inside front cover embellished with a journaling stamp where I'll write some sort of introduction before this is all over. Below is a transparency which I've embellished with a page pebble...

...and this is the back of the same transparency with another page pebble to cover up the plain back side. I used a Scenic Route cardstock journaling sticker directly on the photo of the girls driving their Prowler up the driveway to Nana's and Papa's for our last swim of the season. Love, love, love those journaling stickers. I have them in every color imaginable.

And, of course, back-to-school certainly signals that Fall has arrived! It's getting easier to get used to a quiet, empty house after years of having a house full.

Here are two detail shots with more machine stitching.

Wow, adore this spread. I stamped the kraft paper {edited to add: Market Street Stamps has all their background stamps on sale and this wood grain is one of them...get it now for $9.60} with VersaMark and I loooove how it turned out, probably due to the excellent quality of the stamp I used! Or that I heart the turning of the leaves...who knows. The right side has another transparency.

We'll not even begin to go into the number of vehicles and toys and fixer-uppers my Gordon has had since we married. Or even this year, for that matter. Another story for sure.

Details:

Blurry photo, Monika. Yes, it is, but I don't care a bit because that look of triumph is priceless to me. She is a speed demon. Now. Not a week ago, but now, yes! That girly girl flowered paper is so Isabella, it's not even funny. And it coordinates so well with her shirt, eh?

Yep, more stitching...kind of unifies the album.

Here's Duke, Dukie, the Dukester, Dukie Duke...you get the idea. Our family dog. He's a border collie so he likes to herd. The horses, the cats, the children.

This page holds stamps and a handwritten note from my 52Photos partner-in-crime, Lisa! It's not every day a Walland girl gets a goody package all the way from Sweden. Or a gorgeous necklace.

Life IS good! So good, it's Great! This is a photo of the sun getting ready to head back behind the mountain across the creek from our kitchen door. Those rays of sunshine were an added surprise when I downloaded the photo. Lucky me.

There you have, the trees of our life. Wouldn't you want to hug them, too? I'll be updating my mini throughout this Fall as we add more photos about our extraordinarily ordinary life.

GIVEAWAY TIME: If you'd like to have a chance of winning your very own Fall Mini Bookfrom I Love It All on Etsy, you can earn entries. Good luck! Don't forget to head on over to Jennie's blog and to use that HOP25 coupon code before Sunday. Comments will close Sunday evening and the winner of my giveaway will be announced on Monday morning on this very same blog post.THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

wow- this mini is amazing!! all the photos are fabulous, my fav is the one of your kiddos walking to school, i feel the same way every day the bus pulls away! (until i get to the craft room and then it's "kids? what kids?")

I follow the "I Love It All" blog via RSS. You have such a talent for putting little bits of stuff together (without it being a big complicated cluster) and making it look so cute. I just love it! Thanks for the giveaway!

WHOA! What an A-MAZ-ING album, Monika! Fall is my favorite and I love all your journaling. Just gorgeous! The woodgrain stamp looks PERFECT in here! I love love love the messy stitching on the cover, too. Hugs, Angelica

This is fab Monika, that little picture saying 'miss them already' made me sad but yet smile as it's just what I've been going through with my little one starting senior school. I've added myself as a follower, liked you on fb and etsy (no need to add me to the giveaway)